Jun 6, 2011

Perfect little portion controlled hash brown nests filled with eggs, cheese and ham. You can fill these little babies with any combination of ingredients. I used what I had on hand and they turned out wonderful. Leftovers can be reheated to eat throughout the week.

I met Mary from Mary's Bites at Blogher food and we got to talking about these little hashbrown muffins she was making for her blog. I loved the concept and re-created her recipe with lighter ingredients I had on hand and was very pleased with the outcome. Best part is that I have breakfast ready to go for the next 2 days!

I like my hashbrowns crispy so next time I will bake them a little longer but all ovens are different so use your judgment. Also, some of my muffins stuck a little to the tin so be sure to generously spray the tin and use a non-stick muffin pan.

Preheat oven to 375°. Lightly spray a muffin tin with oil spray. Combine potatoes, 1/2 cup onion, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Fill each muffin tin with 1/4 cup of potatoes and press along the side of the tin so that it forms a nest.

Bake 35 minutes or until golden brown and edges are crispy.

While nests are baking, combine the egg whites with remaining ingredients in a medium bowl.

Remove nests from the oven when golden brown.

Fill each cup with about 3 tbsp of egg mixture. Return to the oven and bake an additional 17-20 minutes or until eggs are fully cooked.

Oh yum! My husband and I have been trying to figure out a light way to get hashbrowns in our breakfast. This would be good with some of those sausage crumbles mixed in. (Can't remember...are they Jimmy Dean? 2 pts for 2/3 a cup I think.)

Um, I don't have Simply Potatoes, but I do have a bag of potatoes and a food processor with a shredding blade. If I wanted to use potatoes and shred them myself, would I use raw potatoes and then just drain/dry them really well?

I love that the serving size for these is 2 muffins and it's still only 3 Points Plus. I'll try it, but with soy sausage or something, since I don't eat meat. And maybe sub the bell peppers for mushrooms. Looks good, though!

Oh, Gina! These look fantastic. Can't wait to try them (on a cooler day). I wonder if you could also bake a whole egg in the little potato baskets? Maybe bake the shells, add a bit of chopped ham, then break an egg into the potato shell, then top with a little fresh herbs or cheese. I'm going to try both! haha As always, you are very creative. I'm also curious about the freezability.

If you use fresh potatoes, you will almost have to squeeze the water out of them before you use in this recipe. Simply potatoes must use something to package them because they are moist but not runny when you open them, very convenient to have on hand! This recipe sounds wonderful and like so many have said can be prepared in several different ways. I'm not sure how they would freeze, can't imagine eggs frozen and then being edible.

Regarding "freezability", I'd think that as far as the egg goes, they'd freeze well. I know that the south beach version (without the yummy potato) freezes great. Not sure how the potato would freeze though.

Gina, do you live in Brooklyn or NYC? I can't find the shredded potatoes at my Key Food. Maybe I'm not looking in the right part of the store. The produce guy looked at me like I was crazy. Maybe I need to just go to a Pathmark. Or I will shred my own potatoes (ugh, too hot).

Great Recipe! Thanks Gina for the recipe and Mary for her inspiration. I made a lightened version using Egg Beaters, turkey bacon and fat free sharp cheddar. In addition to your spices I also added paprika to the potatoes and picante and chopped broccoli into the egg mixture in addition to the onions and red, green, and yellow bell peppers. It is wonderful to have an easy, portable breakfast in the morning that tastes great. With this recipe I may even get my husband to eat breakfast.

Thank you for kicking off summer with this quick, cook ahead so it's ready to grab and go breakfast that will help me stay on track! Your recipes have been such a lifeline, keeping up the variety I crave and helping me stay on track. Thank you!

Gina, These turned out awesome!! A perfect breakfast for my husband who leaves for work before I wake up for the day! I made a double batch w/ low fat sharp cheddar, but used only 1 oz low fat turkey sausage in place of 2 oz. ham. I also like my hashbrowns crispy, so I baked them for 50 minutes before adding the other ingredients. They turned out very good! Thanks for another great recipe :)

OK, so I know I just commented, but I can't help but tell you... these have completely become a staple in my household!!! Wow! I've made them every week since the first time, and my hubby can't stop talking good things about them. He loves them for breakfast on-the-go. My brother-in-law came over and this morning- I kid you not- HE ATE 7 FOR BREAKFAST! OMG! Now I'm baking another batch since he ate them all :)

I attempted to make these twice. The first time I thought my nest did not turn out due to the fact that my hasbrowns were still a little frozen. Undeterred I made them the next day, with thawed hashbrowns and got the same result. I had a really hard time getting them out of the muffin cups and took your advice on spraying it with PAM very generously. I still think they are such a great idea, and mine were quite tasty just not crispy as I had hoped. I am going to attempt them again but use muffin liners to see if I get a better result.

I made this recipe for the 2nd time today. I love it... But is it normal for them to stick to the pan? The first time I made them I sprayed the pan with olive oil as suggested. This time I used Pam. I love the recipe but its frustrating that I have to scrape them out.

I make these all of the time. Try using the Simply Potatoes Southwestern version and some Reduced Fat pepperjack cheese - yum!! also, these freeze fabulously. I thaw them in the fridge overnight and re-heat in a non-stick pan to crisp them up a little. My husband has me make these for him to take camping because they are so easy to reheat and are so tasty!

Gina, I have these in the oven right now and they smell AMAZING! Full disclosure, I always modify recipes to suit my taste, but I love your site for ideas! Keep it up, your foodblog is a part of my morning read-list.

I made this recipe this morning for my Eating Healthy Plan @ work. Everyone loved them! The recipe was very easy to follow. The end result being a huge WOW factor! Also, my kitchen smell wonderful! Thank you for this recipe.

I Think this is the BEST recipe of yours I have tried. I doubled the batch and made 12. I was excited as I thought these were mini muffins and they are not. I added a bit more ham which made them a bit higher in p+ but I am okay with that!!

I am making these right now, I doubled it also but only got 8 with lots of extra filling (I did add some other veggies & meat to it). So I'll be doubling the potato Ing. again and making more. They smell great!

I made these this morning with a yukon gold that i shredded myself. They turned out a little browner than expected after 35 minutes but tasted fine. They also required a little bit of oomph to get out of the pan so I'm excited to try these with a silicone tin next time. I made mine with cheddar, turkey sausage and green onions and drizzled a little bit of hot sauce on top right before serving. Delish and a great way to break up the morning oatmeal routine!

Just finished eating these for brunch and they are good! I used the Southwest Flavored Simply Potatoes, chicken sausage, egg beaters, and some chedder. I doubled the recipes so I could eat these throughout the week. Thanks for another great recipe!

I'm looking forward to having these for breakfast in the morning. I made mine with egg beaters egg whites, feta, and sauteed (just sprayed the pan) spinach and shallots. I forgot to season it so I'll do that before nuking them. Next time, I need to remember to spray the muffin tins.

I made these last night, and unfortunately I was full from dinner and didn't taste them then. I pulled them out of the fridge this morning, reheated them in the microwave, and the hashbrown part seemed a bit soggy, kind of like old fries are. The egg mixture was awesome though, just like a breakfast casserole. Any tips for my much-loved hash browns to stay good?

making some right now with homemade shredded potatoes and a filling of egg whites, spinach,tomato,garlic and some salt & pepper. I through all my filling onto the food processor since I wasn't keen on chunks of spinach. I really hope they turn out!

I am a novice cook and am a bit mixed up with this recipe. Please help! It seems I didn't bother to notice the total serving size as 6 muffins, and only have a 12 muffin pan. Are the muffin sizes in a 12 pan the same as a 6? So could I possibly just double the recipe?

These are fantastic! I seasoned with a little powdered red chiltepan ( very hot pepper, sort of like Thai red pepper or habenero) and also a bit of smoked paprika. We didn't have Swiss so I used a little grated Parmesan, instead.This recipe is easy and has so many possibilities! I used regular potato and have leftover potato for another recipe. I could make this a couple of times a week or even freeze a bunch of potato/onion mixture to make this. I have chickens and they get ahead of me on eggs all the time. By doing egg whites and feeding yolks to the dogs, I use a bunch of eggs. Or, I could even use the yolks for something else, maybe freeze until I want to make ice cream or some other treat. This morning, the dogs got a bunch of yolks, which they love.

Hi Gina, I have been using your site for years and thought I should take a moment to comment. I made these hashbrown nests for breakfast today and it was so delicious! I didn't have any ham so I did broccoli, red and green peppers and spinach with a half tsp of cheddar cheese on top! I overindulged with 3 cups :)

I don't know if you're still replying to this, Gina, but I'm wondering what your thoughts would be on making these ahead? I made these last year for a brunch, which I'm doing again, but I did it the morning of, and I'm trying to avoid that. Could I either:

1) Make the nests the night before and then just do the egg portion in the morning? Would the nests get soggy or not work well cold? or

2) Make them entirely the night before and reheat? I suspect they may be better fresh from the oven. :)

I'm having a holiday brunch at my house this Saturday, and always try to do as much make ahead and bake in the morning as possible. I'm making a breakfast casserole, but I have a couple of vegetarians in my group, so I'm doing these as an all-veggie alternative since the casserole has sausage.